Logbook · 9 places

What to see and do in Cercs

What to see and do in Cercs (Berguedà, Barcelona): 9 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Curiosities · 2 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Cercs

Towns near Cercs

What to see in la Nou de Berguedà 3 km · 2 places
What to see in Fígols 4.2 km · 5 places
What to see in Berga 5.5 km · 13 places
What to see in Vilada 5.8 km · 2 places
What to see in Vallcebre 7.3 km · 3 places
What to see in Castell de l'Areny 7.6 km · 2 places
What to see in Avià 8.4 km · 3 places
What to see in Sant Julià de Cerdanyola 9 km · 2 places

Spain › Catalonia › Barcelona › Berguedà › Cercs

What to see and do in Cercs

Cercs
Village
Cercs is a municipality in the Berguedà comarca, north of Berga, stretching from the Rasos de Peguera to the summits of Vallcebre, on the right bank of the river Llobregat and next to the reservoir that bears its name. It has 1236 inhabitants (INE 2025). Its growth began in the late 19th century with the textile boom and coal mining, which between 1910 and 1920 gave rise to the mining colonies of Sant Corneli and Sant Josep, from which much of the population made its living. It preserves the thermal power plant, closed in 2011, and the Museum of the Mines of Sant Corneli, as well as the pre-Romanesque church of San Quirico de Pedret, from the 9th century, and its Gothic bridge documented since 1286.
Church of Sant Quirze de Pedret
Monument
Sant Quirze de Pedret is a pre-Romanesque and Romanesque church situated in the municipality of Cercs (Berguedà), declared a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection). It is reached from Berga by crossing the river Llobregat over a well-preserved medieval bridge. Its origin is poorly documented, but it retains a structure of three naves ending in three apses -the central one of trapezoidal plan and the side ones horseshoe-shaped-, with horseshoe arches as well and undecorated capitals. The central nave, originally covered with a wooden frame replaced towards the 12th-13th centuries by a pointed vault, recovered its original roof in a 1960s restoration. The mural paintings that made it famous are today kept, divided between the Museu Diocesà de Solsona and the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.
Castle of Blancafort
Monument
A castle first documented in 1166, when King Alfonso I granted it to Pere de Berga; it passed to the crown in 1309, was sold in 1363 for 4,000 sueldos to Pere Fresc, and in 1463 was occupied by the royal captain Guillem de Vila-Setrú during the Catalan civil war. It was already in ruins by 1905, although it received a restoration in 1965.
Museum of les Mines de Cercs
Monument
A museum devoted to coal mining, set up in the former mining colony of Sant Corneli, in Cercs (Berguedà), founded in 1999 and part of the Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya. The permanent exhibition occupies the former Miner's Home, built in 1919 as a school and later turned into the colony's social centre, with a café, a barbershop and a cinema. The visit includes a 450-metre ride by mine wagon through the Sant Romà gallery, opened in 1885 and worked until 1991, and covers the daily life of the miners, the school, the dispensary and episodes such as the Fígols revolt of 1932 or the strike of 1977. It also includes a multisensory space adapted for visually impaired people.
Sant Corneli Colony
Curiosity
The Colònia de Sant Corneli is a former mining settlement in the municipality of Cercs, in the Berguedà, with 98 inhabitants in 2016 and included in the Inventory of Architectural Heritage of Catalonia. It was built in the early 20th century, when the engineer José Enrique de Olano y Loizaga, who had acquired the operation of the Fígols mining basin in 1895, founded the company Carbones de Berga SA and built, together with the neighbouring colonies of Sant Josep and la Consolació, housing and basic services -a bakery, a canteen, a school and a church- to settle the miners and their families. Together with Sant Josep and la Consolació it formed the main mining settlement of Catalonia, with the mines worked by Carbones de Berga SA until their closure in 1991. The original settlement, at 960 metres altitude, included a church of Romanesque origin dedicated to Sant Corneli. Since 1999 it has housed the Museu de les Mines de Cercs, part of the MNACTEC.
Gorge of Sant Corneli
Nature
Narrow river gorge of the Llobregat in the municipality of Cercs, near the former mining colony.
The construction of the Baells reservoir
Historical milestone
The Llobregat reservoir, completed in 1976, regulates the flow and supplies a good part of the Barcelona area. Its filling flooded inhabited settlements at the bottom of the valley and forced the Alt Berguedà road to be diverted.
The closure of the coal mines
Historical milestone
The working of lignite sustained for a century the mining colonies of the upper Llobregat. The definitive closure, in 1991, left empty pits and settlements and hastened the depopulation of the comarca.
Quince pear of Cercs
Food and drink
Late pear of firm flesh, close to the quince in aroma, preserved in the orchards of the district of Cercs. It is destined above all for cooking, in syrup or accompanying game meats of the comarca.